Okay, maybe I didn't read the description closely enough. I thought that I was purchasing a novel . . . but at 5421 words (yes, I counted) it is a short short story.

Perhaps I'm too old (61) to appreciate the artistry of a "graphic novel". Sure, I had comic books as a kid . . . but they had at least as much plot as this did at a fraction of the cost.

Furthermore, the story was rather disjointed, jumping backward and forward in time (which is fine in a real novel, but not so easy with graphics). The result was that I wondered if pages had been mispositioned as I tried to puzzle out the jumps . . . and the artwork didn't excite me particularly since the style changed (multiple artists I believe).

In particular I found the fact that the art clearly shows Mercy being struck on the left cheek . . . and then with the bruise on her right cheek. All in all, I felt a bit ripped off.

I am giving it three stars only because the fault was in part mine for not realizing that I wasn't getting a real "Mercy Thompson" novel (which have all been great), instead of a short story with nothing really new in it.